(PONTIAC, Mich.) — In a prosecution that has largely mirrored evidence from his wife’s trial, previously unseen video was shown in court Tuesday of James Crumbley telling police where to find guns in their home before authorities executed a search warrant in the hours after Ethan Crumbley, the couple’s son, killed four people in a school shooting in Michigan.
James Crumbley is facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter in the November 2021 shooting at Oxford High School, when his son killed four of his classmates — Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17 — and injured seven others.
The father’s trial comes weeks after his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, was found guilty of the same four counts. Ethan, who was 15 years old at the time of the shooting, was sentenced to life in prison without parole after he pleaded guilty to 24 counts including first-degree premeditated murder and terrorism causing death.
Prosecutors played recordings of James Crumbley in court Tuesday for the first time, including police footage of officers speaking with him before they executed a search warrant on the Crumbley home and body camera footage of police apprehending James and Jennifer Crumbley after a manhunt.
In footage, James Crumbley was seen talking to an officer while the search warrant was being served in which he tells officers where to find the guns in the home, telling them the passcode to unlock the gun safe.
Prosecutors have sought to point out in trial that the passcode to the gun safe — the factory preset of 0-0-0 — was an example of James Crumbley’s failure to secure the firearm and limit the shooter’s access to it.
James Crumbley purchased the gun used in the shooting for his son just days before the attack, prosecutors said earlier in the trial.
During her trial, Jennifer Crumbley had responded to questions from the prosecution regarding the passcode being the default 0-0-0, arguing that securing the gun was James Crumbley’s responsibility.
Surveillance footage from the shooting was also shown on Tuesday, with James Crumbley seen wiping away tears during the presentation.
Other witnesses who testified on Tuesday included Luke Kirtley, who called 911 to report the location of the Crumbleys leading to their arrest; David Hendrick, the detective sergeant who was in charge of the manhunt for the Crumbley parents; and Detective Adam Stoyek, who testified about searching the Crumbley home after the shooting.
The couple had to be captured while hiding in Detroit a week after the shooting following an hourslong search when they did not turn themselves in for their scheduled arraignment, according to law enforcement officials.
They had not made an arrangement with police to turn themselves in, with James Crumbley’s attorney seeking to argue they were not fleeing. In Hendrick’s testimony Tuesday, the defense alluded to conversations the Crumbleys’ attorneys had with law enforcement regarding turning themselves in.
Oakland County Detective Lt. Timothy Willis testified Tuesday about a video on YouTube showing Ethan Crumbley making a bomb and unfounded information in a journal from the shooter’s backpack that there may be explosives in part of the school.
Excerpts of the journal were shown in court, including sections where the shooter says he wants help but his parents won’t get it for him and another section where he says all he needs is the gun before he can carry out the shooting. In another entry, he says he needs to find where his father hid the gun so he can carry out the shooting.
“Many people have 1 day left to live,” the shooter wrote in an entry shown in court.
In an entry that appears to be one day before the shooting, he wrote the shooting would take place “tomorrow,” that he will spend the rest of his life in prison and that he has access to the gun and ammunition.
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